The Earth

 I have been away so I have not been able to write anything. However, I have been reading a lovely book that a friend sent - another of Thich Nhat Hanh's books called,* 'Love Letter to the Earth'. If I read this correctly he is trying to remind us that the earth, our planet and we, are one and if we destroy mother earth, then we destroy ourselves. Then there is something from Annie Dillard.

One of TNH's letters is entitled, Heaven On Earth says some beautiful things but here is one I like very much:
    
 

In deep contact with the Earth and wonders of life, I touch my true nature. The exquisite orchid flower, the ray of sunshine, and even my own miraculous body - if they do not belong to the Kingdom of God,

     what does? Contemplating the Earth deeply, whether a floating cloud or a falling leaf...we are carried into eternity.

    
      



The Kingdom of Heaven exists, not outside of us, but within our very 
own hearts. Whether we're able to touch the Kingdom of God or not at every step, depends on our way of looking, our way of listening, ourway of walking. If my mind is calm and peaceful, then the very ground I'm walking on becomes a paradise.

“At a certain point, you say to the woods, to the sea, to the mountains, the world, Now I am ready. Now I will stop and be wholly attentive. You empty yourself and wait, listening. After a time you hear it: there is nothing there. There is nothing but those things only, those created objects, discrete, growing or holding, or swaying, being rained on or raining, held, flooding or ebbing, standing, or spread. You feel the world's word as a tension, a hum, a single chorused note everywhere the same.*Annie Dillard

*Thich Nhat Hanh: Love Letter to the Earth, Parallax Press, P.O. Box 7355, Berkeley, Ca. , 2013
* Annie Dillard: Teaching a Stone to Talk, HarperCollins.